Pew Partnership for Civic Change

Pew Partnership for Civic Change Solutions for America Initiative

Hyde Park Main Streets is proud to have been one of three neighborhood programs profiled as part of Boston Main Streets designation as a “Solution for America” by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change.

The two year study included a team of 10 graduate students from the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) Department of Urban Studies and Planning whose final report entitled, “Hyde Park Main Streets: The Small Town In The City, Strategies and Recommendations for a Revitalized Business District”won the American Planning Association Award and is being implemented and used today as a guide for our Program.

About the Solutions for America Initiative;

Created as a two-year national research initiative that selected 19 programs from across the United States from a pool of over 100 applicants. The Solutions ranged from our Main Street Program in Boston to job training for women in Kentucky to homelessness issues in Los Angeles with the Beyond Shelter program. The Initiative “grew out of the conviction that successful community based activities should be known more widely. The Pew Partnership for Civic Change wanted to create a showcase of best practices and to broadcast those successes to the widest possible audience… Successful strategies used in Boston may also make sense in Seattle or Waxahachie.” Source, Solutions for America: 19 Hometown Success Stories

About the MIT Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning Research Team;

Each “Solution” was partnered with a local research team; Prof. Karl F. Seidman of MIT headed up our team and developed a course on Main Streets featuring Hyde Park that is still being offered today at MIT studying other neighborhoods. His final research report cited Hyde Park as having the highest percentage, (88%), of participating businesses reporting improved performance through their involvement in Main Streets.